When a quesadilla and a parantha meet, falling in love is inevitable. As is the parantha quesadilla that follows a few months later.
I travel a lot for a living, and one thing anyone that travels 50% of the year will tell you is that you to have a routine! Whether it’s how you pack, unpack, travel, sleep, whatever, there is a specific way to do things. It is the right way, the only way, and the most logical way. So, I too have a travel routine. The minute I get into my hotel room, I do my pants off dance off, order a steak quesadilla with extra chili peppers and a coke (with extra ice), put on a garbage TV show, and run myself a bubble bath. Doesn’t matter what time of day it is, it’s what’s going to happen. It’s my way of relaxing before a tiring week ahead. Plus, who doesn’t like eating in the bath…oh wait, is that just me? Nevermind, just eat the parantha quesadilla.
I love all paranthas! Plain paranthas, aloo paranthas, cheese, radish..you see where this is going. There is no such thing as a bad parantha, just a badly made parantha. So, it was only natural that I would combine my love for quesadillas and paranthas into a queso parantha. It’s the perfect fusion of flavors. The chewy, wheaty, yumminess of a parantha and the mexican flavors of bell peppers, onions, cilantro and cheese. The best part of a quesadilla is that there’s no fixed recipe on how to make them. If you want steak, add in steak. If you like chicken, cheddar, corn, whatever, you can make this your own. The only sort of fixed thing that has to be there is the plain parantha and cheese. Other than that, the world is your oyster, my friend. But don’t put oysters in your quesadilla, that’s just gross.
Also, and lastly, it is a parantha, not a paratha. It’s a monster pet peeve of mine when people mispronounce/mistype things and have the nerve to then call them authentic. Yes, there are a million and one versions of paranthas throughout India and the Caribbean, however, stuffed and pan fried rotis are synonymous with Punjab, and there it is called a parantha – hence the bindi onto of the “a”. Now, off you go with your superior knowledge about Punjab, Hindi, and Gurmukhi.